X. Credo - 2. Trope: “Non Credo”

[MALE GROUP] (interrupting tape)
Et homo factus est

[BARITONE SOLO]
And was made man …

[MALE GROUP]
And was made man

[BARITONE SOLO]
And you become a man
You, God, chose to become a man
To pay the earth a small social call
I tell you, sir, you never were
A man at all
Why?
You had the choice when to live
When
To die
And then
Become a god again
And then a plaster god like you …

[MALE GROUP]
A God like you too …

[BARITONE SOLO]
Has the gall to tell me what to do
To become a man
To show my respect on my knees …

[MALE GROUP]
Be like a man

[BARITONE SOLO]
Go genuflect, but don’t expect guarantees
Oh, just play it dumb
Play it blind
But when I go
Then
Will I become a god again?

[MALE GROUP]
Possibly yes, probably no …

[BARITONE SOLO]
Yes, probably no
Give me a choice
I never had a choice
Or I would have been a simple tree
A barnacle in a silent sea
Anything but what I must be:
A man
A man
A man!

[MALE GROUP]
Possibly yes, probably no …

[BARITONE SOLO]
You knew what you had to do
You knew why you had to die

[MALE GROUP]
Man
Man

[BARITONE SOLO]
You chose to die, and then revive again
You chose, you rose alive again
But I
I don’t know why I should live
If only to die
Well, I’m not gonna buy it!

[MALE GROUP]
Possibly yes, probably no …

[BARITONE SOLO]
I’ll never say credo
How can anybody say credo?
I want to say credo …

(Tape Six.)

[CHOIR]
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio
Pilato
Passus, et sepultus est
Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum
Scripturas
Et ascendit in caelum:
Sedet ad dexteram Patris
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare
Vivos et mortuos